


The Secret Meanings of a Flower Behind the Ear

by HidingintheInkwell



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: 5+1, Clueless Danno gets a clue, Fluff and Angst, Gracie is too smart, Kono can't keep a straight face, M/M, Major Character Injury, Sneaky Steve, but only for a little bit, oblivious Danno
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-24
Updated: 2019-10-24
Packaged: 2021-01-02 09:54:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21159740
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HidingintheInkwell/pseuds/HidingintheInkwell
Summary: Basically what it says on the tin. Five times Steve put a flower behind Danny's ear and One time Danny gets a clue!Inspired by this:  “Secret Meaning of a Hawaiian Flower Worn Behind the Ear. ... If you wear a flower behind your left ear, it means you are married, taken, have a significant other, or maybe you just don't want anyone bothering you! If you wear a flower behind your right ear, it means you are single, available, and approachable.”





	The Secret Meanings of a Flower Behind the Ear

The first time it happened was, ironically, in a lei factory. The team had been tracking a possible weapons smuggling ring somewhere on the island for the last week. Danny could tell Steve was about at the point of pulling his hair out when Kamekona had called saying he’d heard through an “associate” that there was something going on at the Keʻahi Kipa Lei factory on the North Shore. Steve had the Camaro keys before Danny had even been aware he’d pulled them out of his pocket and the four of them were off. 

When they’d arrived at the nondescript redbrick factory, Steve had wanted to march straight in with guns blazing. “Danno, we’ve been tracking these guys for a _ week. _ There’s no telling what kind of firepower they’ve managed to bring into the state in that time!” Danny rolled his eyes at the Insulted Puppy look he was being given, catching the shared smiles the cousins were exchanging off to their left. “No, Steven,” he said, using the same tone he used on Gracie when she was being petulant. “The fact that we don’t know what kind of firepower they have is _ exactly _why we are not going to go in there guns blazing. For one, there could be countless little old ladies in there who are just minding their own business making leis for tourists, and if we go in guns blazing we could give some of them possibly fatal heart attacks! Or if the guys we’re tracking do actually happen to be there, some of those little old ladies could get caught in the crossfire!”

In the end, they didn’t go in guns blazing like Steve wanted. They took a more tactical route with Steve and Danny going in from the front, Chin taking the back, and Kono taking the fire escape up so she could cover them from the catwalks. Danny had been right, there had been little old ladies in there making leis, and the guys they’d been looking for had been in there too. What they _ hadn’t _ anticipated, however, was that the little old ladies _ were _the guys they’d been looking for. The moment the team had gone in with shouts of “Five-Oh! Put your hands in the air!” fifty little old lei makers dropped their tools, reached into their piles of flowers and leaves, and pulled out an assortment of submachine guns, assault rifles, and AKs. The inside of the factory was an eruption of gunfire and petals until the team finally managed to subdue the smugglers. 

Danny was watching the last of them being loaded into the back of a police cruiser by a very confused HPD lieutenant when he felt their resident SEAL come up behind him. “Dang,” he griped, but when Danny turned to look at him the wide grin on his face completely contradicted the tone of the word. “I didn’t even get to say ‘Book ‘em, Danno’.” The blond just rolled his eyes, noting the shredded flower petals and plaster dust that covered his partner’s dark head and shoulders. Before he could comment on his doofus partner’s appearance, however, green eyes dropped to the ground and that grin widened before Steve was dropping, long fingers grabbing something from the ground before he was popping back up like the Jack-in-a-Box someone had given Gracie for her 3rd birthday. _ The argument about whether Steve is scarier than that little clown is still up in the air, _Danny thought briefly before finding himself going cross eyed in order to see what the taller man had just thrust in front of his face. 

It was a dark red carnation, miraculously still in one piece after the fiasco it had just been through, its ruffled petals spread around it like a pom pom. Without a word, Steve reached out and tucked the stem behind Danny’s left ear, rough fingers just brushing the tip of the blond detective’s ear and drawing a shiver up his spine. Before Danny could say anything about how he was not a girl, and Steve was not _ actually _five years old, the SEAL was being called away by an officer, leaving a rather baffled detective with a carnation behind his ear standing in the mess of flower petals and wood chips. 

* * *

The second time it happened, they’d just closed an easy case. A series of home invasions had resulted in one person being shot. Luckily, they’d been fine and were recovering in the hospital, but they’d been able to give Five-0 enough of a description to narrow down their search parameters. In the end, it was really rather anticlimactic. The guy they were looking for turned out to be some skinny, acne ridden twenty-something with a video game obsession who was living in his mom’s basement. The moment they’d knocked on the door, a woman who already looked perpetually done with everyone’s shit answered it with a “what the hell did he do now?” Danny and Steve had shared a look before the blond had turned to her, explaining who they were and why they were looking for her son. 

The woman had offered them a polite smile and held up a finger in the universal “one moment please” before leaning out of the doorway and screaming loud enough to cause both Danny and Steve to give a brief start. “Gerald Rhodney Calwell, get your sorry excuse of a millenial ass up here this instant! The cops are at my fucking door! What the _ fuck _ did you do now?!” They heard a scuffling from somewhere else in the house, the squeak of wooden stairs and a door opening and shutting before their suspect shuffled into sight. The moment he was within reach, his mother was reaching out and slapping him hard upside the head. “What the fuck were you thinking?! I swear, it’s all those damn video games melting what’s left of your brain!”

The scolding went on for a good minute or two more before Mrs. Calwell let them cuff her son and take him in. She’d even told them before closing the door that they could feel free to either shoot him or beat his ass if he caused them any issues. They were half way back to the Camaro before Steve finally cracked, doubling over in laughter while Danny did his best to pretend he didn’t know him; even if he was laughing his ass off on the inside also. “Did you--did you see his face when his mother slapped him?!” Steve finally asked when he’d regained his composure, face pink with exertion in a way Danny would never admit to anyone that he found attractive on the tall, normally somber-faced man. 

“Come on, you neanderthal. We’ve got paperwork to do.” Danny said, slinging an arm across his partner’s broad shoulders. Steve just grinned, cuffing the shorter man lightly upside the head before detangling himself and climbing behind the wheel. Danny followed suit with an overly exaggerated put-upon sigh. 

It wasn’t until they were back at HQ filling out paperwork did he finally notice something was off. The cousins were sharing looks, but that in itself wasn’t wholly unusual. No, what tipped Danny off was the fact that every time Kono looked in his direction, she nearly snorted her coffee. Angling his computer screen so that he could see his reflection without looking suspicious, he found a small purple violet tucked behind his left ear. He wasn’t sure how long it had been there, or why he hadn’t noticed it sooner, but he did note that it looked remarkably like the ones growing in Mrs. Calwell’s front garden. 

* * *

Danny found the third time a little harder to excuse. For one thing, it was at an awards ceremony being held by the mayor to thank Five-0 and the HPD for their excellence during a crime spree earlier that month, and for two, the flower had come out of a bouquet gifted to Kono by a grateful little girl who’d nearly lost her dog in the spree. As the mayor finished speaking and the crowd applauded, Steve plucked a yellow begonia from Kono’s bouquet, earning him a fond glare and a swat from the young woman, and tucked it behind Danny’s ear. Before the mouthy blond could reprimand him for the behavior, Steve was being called over by the mayor and the chief of police and Danny was left to turn back to the cousins. Kono wasn’t even trying to hide the fact that she was laughing behind the floral arrangement, and Chin for all his tack was still smirking like a magician whose audience didn’t yet know they’d been played for suckers. 

With a low growl of frustration at all the lunatics he worked with, Danny pulled the flower from behind his ear and tucked into his breast pocket. “Oh, don’t be like that, Danny!” Kono snorted. “Boss Man’s gonna be sad that you took his flower down!” 

Danny rolled his eyes. “The neanderthal will survive, I assure you. He should know there is a time and a place for joking, and in front of a crowd of citizens and reporters during an _ awards ceremony _is not one of them!”

* * *

Okay, this was ridiculous. They were on a goddamn _ boat _ in the middle of the _ ocean! _ To make it better, _ it was a Navy ship! _ How the ever loving _ hell _ did Steve manage to find a flower all the way out here!! It was a ruffley pink peony that had no purpose being on that ship, let alone behind Danny’s _ ear. _

They’d been called out to trace a hacker who was threatening one of Military intelligence’s satellites. GPS had put him out in the pacific, so Steve had pulled a few strings and gotten the team aboard a cruiser that was tracking tidal movement in preparation for a mission they were not cleared to know about. Finding the hacker’s boat hadn’t really been so much the problem, though, as figuring out how to sneak up on him. The guy had been smart enough to put himself out where he had an unobstructed 360 view, and he’d already made his threats and demands. One of the Captains had suggested sending in a few Frogmen to catch him by surprise, and with few better ideas the Team had agreed. 

Steve had taken charge of a couple lieutenants and they’d suited up and gone in. Danny, Chin, and Kono stayed in the control room watching surveillance and listening for the break in radio silence as the small group disappeared into the blue. Danny kept his eyes on the small yacht style boat bobbing harmlessly in the waves, infrared showing their three divers approaching the cool blue-green vessel while the bright red of their hacker hunched inside. Three heartbeats and a lifetime later, the three red figures of the divers were converging on the single red of the hacker and Steve’s voice was coming in over their comm system. “Target acquired. System is shut down, no weapons onboard. The satellite is yours again, Captain, and we are ready for extraction.”

Danny would admit to no one that he held his breath until their suspect was being hauled aboard the cruiser, followed quickly by the divers; Steve grinning like the idiot he was, hair plastered to his head and water puddling on the deck as he handed the borrowed gear off to some random ensign. As the brunet opened his mouth, Danny waved his hands in a shushing motion. “Don’t even _ think _ about it, McGarrett. You are not going to tell me to ‘book’em Danno’ after you dragged me out into the middle of the ocean.” 

Behind him Kono giggled, a couple crew members chuckled, and Steve just kept grinning, stripping out of the drysuit and accepting the offered shirt from Chin, who was being much more successful in hiding his grin. While Steve pulled on the shirt, the Captain excused himself so he could radio base and call in a tow for the hacker’s boat. Danny waited until the older man was out of earshot before addressing Steve again. “Sometimes I just cannot believe you,” he said, rolling his eyes as the brunet shook his head like a dog, sending a spray of seawater around him like an aura. 

Danny squinted against the assault, and when he opened his eyes again it was to find a blinding white smile less than two feet from his face. “What the hell? First you act like an overgrown puppy and now you’re back to ninja mode?” Rather than respond, Steve’s hand disappeared very briefly into one of the many pockets of his cargos before reappearing in the blond’s peripheral vision. “What the hell are you-- ” Danny started, but before he could finish the thought he felt something cool and ruffley being tucked behind his ear. The feather light touch of calloused fingers against the fine hairs on the side of Danny’s head had him fighting back a shiver before he was lifting his hand and plucking the soft cluster of petals from behind his ear. 

He stared at the flower for a long moment, tuning out Kono’s giggles and Chin’s half-muffled chuckles before he finally looked up into all-too-innocent green eyes. “How the _ hell _ did you manage to get a flower out into the middle of the _ ocean?!” _

* * *

The fifth time it happened, all Danny could remember was the blood. It hadn’t even been a case they were working on. Hell, they didn’t even know who the perps _ were _. He and Steve had been on their way to talk to a fisherman who’d been witness to a possible kidnapping to see if he remembered anything from that night; it would just figure that they’d walk within spitting distance of a weapons deal going down. They hadn’t even gotten to their witness’s boat when there was a muffled shout of “Shit it’s five-oh!” and the sound of semi-automatic assault rifles were ringing through the quiet. The two had dove behind a pile of crates with a soft cuss, wood chips flying up around them. 

“I blame you,” Danny had grunted, leveraging just enough to try and get a look at who exactly was shooting at them while Steve checked his clip beside him. “What did I do?” The brunet asked when the blond dropped again. 

“You’re a magnet for danger. I swear to God, this wouldn’t have happened if I’d brought Kono or Chin with me. Wait, no, scratch that. Kono is almost as bad as you are. I should have just brought Chin. Maybe then we wouldn’t be stuck on a dock with a bunch of idiots shooting at us!”

Steve kept silent, leveraging to fire off two rapid shots before ducking back down again. They’d not been expecting confrontation, so neither of them had more than their handguns. Well, Steve might have had a grenade or two somewhere in those damn pockets, but now was not the time to be bringing that up. “Did you see how many?” He asked instead, checking his own clip. Steve nodded. “Yeah, can’t be more than ten, but I think I may have taken out one. Think we can handle the rest of them?” 

The grin on the SEAL’s face was bordering on manic, but before Danny had to dignify the question with an answer, the wail of sirens reached their ears, growing louder as HPD pulled up to the marina. “Lucky for my blood pressure, it looks like we’re not going to have to.”

In a very anticlimactic turn of events, the weapons dealers were quickly apprehended by HPD and loaded into squad cars. Steve had managed to shoot one of them in the thigh, and the injured dealer had been escorted to the hospital until it was only the two Five-Oh leaders and a handful of HPD and Forensics left to process the minute crime scene. 

“How’d the two of you find them?” Duke asked, looking mildly impressed. “We’ve been tracking these guys for weeks.” Steve and Danny shared a look. “Actually, we were here to interview a witness for one of our own cases,” Danny explained, watching Steve wander off out of the corner of his eye. “Personally, I blame McGarrett. I swear the guy is just a giant magnet for trouble. I could have come out here with any other person and have been able to interview the witness and gone about my day. But no, I bring this doofus along and we walk right into a weapons deal!”

Duke chuckled and patted Danny on the shoulder. “Don’t take it too personally, his father was the same way when he was Steve’s age. You never met John, but you have met Joe White, so I guess you could say craziness is all Steve really knows.” 

Danny nodded in understanding, watching Steve walk up to a young girl selling something out of a wicker basket. The tall brunet smiled and spoke quietly before handing her a couple dollars and accepting something in return. With a final word to the girl, he was turning and heading back to where Danny and Duke stood, a wide, stupid smile on his face that only promised trouble. When he was only a couple yards away, Danny could see that the thing he’d purchased from the girl was a red rose, and immediately felt a blush heat his cheeks even as exasperation threatened to dampen it. 

He was just opening his mouth to reprimand the brunet for the ongoing joke when a single shot rang out. Steve dropped to the grass, and Danny felt his heart drop with him. While the remaining HPD officers drew their weapons and worked to identify the source of the fire, Danny was at Steve’s side before he even realized he’d moved. The ex-SEAL’s jaw was clenched, one hand pressed to his bloodsoaked shoulder even as crimson soaked through his fingers. “Shit!” Danny swore, pressing his own hands over the wound. Judging from the red staining the grass under them, it appeared to be a through and through, but there was still so much blood, and Danny could feel Steve’s pulse thrumming beneath his palms. “It would only figure this would happen,” Danny grunted. “Only you could get yourself shot buying a stupid _ flower _.”

Steve started to laugh only to have it choked off by a groan, red starting to stain his lips. “Sorry, Danno,” he coughed, free hand coming up to paw at the side of Danny’s head. The damp feel of petals against his skin alerted the blond to what the injured man was trying to do and he angrily swatted at the hand, applying more pressure to the wound that just _ wouldn’t stop bleeding oh God there was so much blood… _“Remember that conversation about how there was a time and a place for that, Steven? Well this is neither the time, nor the place.” 

This time the wet chuckle that bubbled out of Steve’s throat was accompanied by a spray of blood as the hand fell limply to the grass. “No, no no no Steven don’t you dare, don’t you _ fucking dare. _Where is the ambulance?!” He swiveled his head back and forth until he saw the blue-clad EMTs rushing over with a gurney. He forced himself back away from the now unconscious man so that the medics could do their job, but as soon as they had him up on the gurney he was following behind, climbing into the ambulance with a shout to Duke to call the rest of the team and let them know what had happened. 

It was only when they were at the hospital and Steve was being wheeled into emergency surgery that Danny finally stopped and tried to breathe, but he found there was a block in his throat that wouldn’t let him, and he collapsed into a waiting room chair and stared down at his hands. The blood had dried to a rusty reddish-brown that covered his hands, the knees of his pants, streaks of it across his shirt, and he knew he probably had it on his face and in his hair from where Steve had pawed at him. It was no wonder the nurses and other patients kept giving him strange looks, he probably looked like something out of a bad slasher film. 

As the shaking in his hands slowly subsided, a nurse who reminded him of Malia came up with a clipboard. “Excuse me, you came in with Commander McGarrett, correct?” Danny nodded. “Yes, he’s my partner. Is there any news?”

The nurse offered him a kind smile and handed over the clipboard. “He’s still in surgery, but they’re fairly positive he’ll pull through. The bullet went straight through and they were able to repair the muscle and tissue damage. He will have limited mobility in his right arm for a little while, but he should be back to normal in a couple months. I just need you to fill out the paperwork here, and the doctor should be out shortly with more news.” Danny accepted the clipboard and pen, feeling his pounding heart slow just slightly. _ He’s going to be fine, he’s always fine. He’s the SuperSEAL, a little bullet wound isn’t going to stop him. _

He was just putting pen to paper when the nurse cleared her throat softly. “Excuse me, Detective Williams, but I just thought if you’d like to freshen up there’s a private bathroom down the hall and to the left, and I can bring out a cup of water for your flower if you’d like.” Danny mumbled a thank you, already on his feet and heading for the bathroom before the rest of her words fully registered. _ Flower? What flower? _

Locking the door to the single stall bathroom behind him, he braced his hands against the sink edge and stared at his reflection. His face was startlingly pale compared to the red that streaked his skin. Red in his messy hair from where he’d run his fingers through it distractedly, red lines like war paint over the left side of his face, too big to be his own, too smeared to have been done with a steady hand. The thing in his throat swelled until he felt like he was choking. Tucked haphazardly behind his ear was the rose Steve had bought from the girl in the park. In all the chaos that had followed, Danny had completely forgotten about it, had thought it must have been left behind at the crime scene. 

Something hysterical bubbled out of his throat as he watched his reflection lift its hand and pluck the flower down. He looked down at the blossom sitting innocently on his palm. It was boutineer style, woody green stem cut down to a few inches and thorns trimmed away. The deep red petals were spread wide in bloom, shining in places with blood that was nearly invisible against the similar color of the petals. Uncontrollable giggles fell from his lips as he slid to the tile floor, flower cradled delicately in his hands. Even bleeding out, the giant idiot he called a partner had managed to surprise him again. 

Danny wasn’t sure how long he sat there in the hospital bathroom; at some point the giggles had turned into sobs as the stress of the last few hours found a way to make itself known before it too eventually died out, leaving Danny feeling hollow. His knee protested as he pushed himself back to his feet, tucking the flower safely into a pocket as he began scrubbing away his partner’s blood from his hands and face. Steve was gonna be fine. He always was. At least, that’s what Danny told himself, even if his reflection didn’t seem to believe him. 

* * *

“How do I look, Danno?”

Danny turned to see Gracie stepping out of her room and smiled widely. “You look amazing, Monkey!” He complimented, lifting his phone to snap a few pictures. “You know your mom’s going to be sad she had to miss your performance. I think you might have to give her a live one when she gets back.” 

Gracie rolled her eyes. “Danno, I thought you were going to record it so you could send it to her.” One of the ten-year-old’s classes was putting on a traditional hula as a part of Culture Week. Originally Rachel had been supposed to help their daughter get ready, and Danny was just supposed to meet them at the school and treat them to shave ice afterwards, but Rachel had gotten a call earlier in the week from her mother saying her father had been taken to the hospital. After a brief call to Danny about how important this was to Gracie, and yes Danny would take plenty of photos and videos to send his Ex, Danny had gotten Grace for the whole week, including after school practices, one emergency case that had involved Jerry playing babysitter, and helping Grace with the floral skirt and top that was just a little too short for his opinions on what was appropriate for a ten-year-old girl to wear. 

“Yes, but I think she meant that more so that she could show your grandparents, and make sure I’m holding up to my end of the bargain of actually getting you there in one piece. Just think about how much she’d love to see you giving her a live performance when she gets home.” Gracie offered him another eyeroll, _ when had she gotten so grown up? _ and offered him a twirl that had the wrap skirt floating up around her knees. She’d had a classmate braid her hair that morning so that it hung in low waves down her back, and the leafy headpiece was perched like a crown on her head. “You look beautiful, monkey,” Danny said again, picking up the large fake hibiscus and moving to clip it behind her left ear. “Just like something out of Moana or Lilo and Stitch.”

Gracie smiled up at him before pulling back at his attempts to clip the flower to her hair. “Danno, no. You’re putting it on the wrong side!” Danny frowned. “Wrong side? It’s a flower behind the ear, how can there be a right side or a wrong side?” 

Gracie offered her dad an exasperated sigh. “Danno, flowers always mean something in Hawaiian culture. My teacher told us about it at the start of the week. When someone wears a flower behind their right ear, it means they are single or unattached. If they wear it behind their left ear, it means that they’re married or that they have a significant other. We’re supposed to wear our flowers behind our right ears because we’re ten and aren’t supposed to have boyfriends or husbands.” 

“Ah, of course. My apologies, Monkey,” Danny replied with a mock seriousness, but inside his mind was turmoil. He was suddenly recalling every instance where Steve had jokingly tucked a flower behind Danny’s ear. Danny’s _ left _ ear. _ Maybe it hadn’t been so much a joke? _He tried to convince himself that Steve hadn’t known the symbolism behind his actions, but it was a pathetic attempt. The ex-SEAL had been born and raised on the Island. There was no way he hadn’t been taught about the culture. Of course, there was always the chance that he’d forgotten in his years away, but somehow Danny didn’t think that was likely. Especially with the looks Kono and Chin and half the island kept shooting them every time Steve publically tucked a flower behind Danny’s ear. 

“You are not allowed to have a boyfriend until you’re thirty-five,” he grumbled as he fixed the flower’s position, earning himself another eyeroll and a “_ Danno!” _ from his daughter. _ God, when did she get so grown up? _Offering out an arm, he escorted his daughter out to the car and drove them to the school. 

With a kiss to his cheek and a hurried “Love you, Danno! See you after the performance!” Gracie was out of the car and hurrying up to a group of similarly dressed girls giggling by the doors. Danny recognized Lucy and Rebecca from playdates and the Aloha Girls, and a couple others who looked familiar but not enough for Danny to know them by name. As he found a spot and threw his car in park, his phone rang. 

“McGarrett, I swear if this is a case I am going to personally kill you,” he said by way of a greeting before the man on the other end could even get a word out. 

“_ What? No, Danno. No case. Listen, I know Grace has her hula performance today and you were going to take her out for shave ice, but I was thinking--” _

“Uh oh,” Danny interrupted, “Steve McGarrett was thinking again. Is this going to involve me having to call emergency services? Did you hurt yourself doing that?”

_ “Ha ha, Danny. You’re hilarious. No, I was thinking that if the two of you wanted to come here instead I could throw some burgers on the grill, maybe see if Chin and Kono wanted to join us and we could have our own little mock-lual to celebrate. Maybe even convince Grace to give us a performance if she isn’t too tired.” _

Danny stared out his windshield at the group of girls who were just then being ushered inside by an older Hawaiian woman. He briefly wondered how Grace would react to being asked to perform a second time that night, and then have to perform again when her mother came home. For all the griping she would do, she loved Steve and the Cousins and could probably be bribed into putting on a performance for them. “I don’t know, it may take some convincing for her to give an extra performance.” On the other end of the line Steve chuckled. “_ Ice cream it is. I’ll put it on my list. You wanna get beers, or do I need to grab them?” _

“I’ll pick some up,” Danny replied, checking his watch. “I’ve gotta go, this thing is about to start. You contact the cousins and I’ll text you when we’re on our way.” They exchanged goodbyes and Danny ended the call, muting his phone and tucking it into his pocket as he jogged up the steps to the school. He followed the line of parents filing into the auditorium and took a seat close enough to the stage that he could get a good view to record Grace’s class. The program he’d been handed on the way in had each performance scheduled by grade level, with the grade, the teacher, and the name of the piece along with a brief description. Gracie’s class wasn’t listed to perform until the very end, so Danny sat back and watched idly as he tried to process what he was going to say to Steve later. 

Danny supposed he could continue to play dumb and see if Steve was willing to keep it going, but quickly decided that wasn’t going to work. It wasn’t fair to Steve to think his actions were going unnoticed, or unreciprocated. Danny bit the inside of his cheek, thoughts swirling as he watched the class of uncoordinated kindergarteners in fluffy grass skirts perform what was supposed to have been a representation of the waves and the sea creatures, but what was honestly more like one or two children trying to follow the teenager leading them while the rest were in various states of distraction or tears. They reminded Danny of the time Rachel had insisted on enrolling Grace in ballet and their daughter had spent the recital off to the side hopping around like a bunny rabbit, and the memory brought a smile to his face. 

By the time the dance had come to an end and the teachers were herding the wayward five-year-olds off the stage and into the awaiting arms of their parents, Danny had put together an idea. Grinning to himself, he sat back to watch the next few performances, each progressively better than the one before, though none could really compete to Grace’s class. Maybe Danny was a little bias, but in his opinion, the fifth grade class’s rendition of the earth’s creation and the Hawaiian gods pulling the islands from the sea was far superior to the other grades. He joined the wave of parents offering the class a standing ovation as the kids took their bows and filed off stage. The school principal came out to offer final thanks to the parents and ask that they wait for their children’s grade to be called to avoid confusion. 

Knowing it was going to be a little bit of a wait, Danny pulled out his phone to send Rachel the video he’d taken and text Steve that it was over, only to find texts from both. Rachel’s text was reminding him to send her the video of their daughter’s performance, and to let him know that her father was recovering well and she’d be home in a few days. Danny sent her the video before moving on to see what Steve had sent him. It was a picture of a pint of chunky monkey ice cream with a question mark and a reminder to pick up beers on their way over. Danny hit call and pressed the phone to his ear. 

“_ Hey! How’d the performance go?” _ Was the first thing Danny heard when the line clicked over. “It was fantastic, of course,” he replied, watching as the herd of second grade parents rose to go collect their children. “My daughter was brilliant, without a doubt the best dancer on that stage.” On the other end of the line he heard Steve chuckle. “ _ Of course she was, Danno. It’s not like you’re bias or anything. Anyway, I was just about to prep the grill. Did you call for something? Or just to brag about your amazing daughter? _”

Danny grinned, feeling his heart warm just a little more at the idea that Steve thought his daughter was amazing. “Yeah, just calling to let you know chunky monkey ice cream is a perfect bribe. You hear from the cousins?”

“_ Yeah, Kono has a date with Adam tonight so she’s out on this one, and Chin said he’d try to make it by, but couldn’t make any promises so it’s looking like it’s just the three of us tonight. I told them both I’d throw on extra burgers in case they wanted to make an appearance, though.” _

Danny was just opening his mouth to make some quip about everyone having a hot date when the Principal’s voice came over the speakers calling for the remaining grades to come collect their students. “I gotta go collect my child and let her know of the change of plans. We should be to your place in about a half hour. You have dinner ready, I’ll bring the show? Great, see you, babe.”

Sticking his phone back in his pocket, he shoved himself to his feet and followed the slowing tide of parents back out into the entryway where the remaining dancers were waiting. Cursing his lack of altitude, Danny scanned the crowd of similarly dressed bodies until a cry of “Danno! Over here!” had him sliding through the mass to where his beautiful daughter stood waiting with Lucy and her mom. “What did you think of the dance, Danno?” Gracie asked, practically bouncing up and down in excitement. Danny grinned and swept her up into a big hug. “You did amazing, Monkey! By far the best performance of the night, without a doubt!”

“Dan_ no, _ ” Gracie groaned. “You’re just saying that because you’re my dad and you have to.” Danny shook his head. “No way, your grade was absolutely the best one. Isn’t that right?” He turned to Lucy’s mom, who nodded her head, wide grin on her painted lips. “Oh yes, absolutely. I might even say you were nearly better than the _ kumus _.” Both girls shared eyerolls at their parents antics before hands were grabbed and parents were pulled towards doors. 

“Danno, can we go get shave ice now?” Gracie asked as she climbed into her dad’s car and buckled in. Danny slid behind the wheel and did the same. “Actually, Steve invited us over for burgers and ice cream. I also thought that as a thank you, you might show him some of your dance since he couldn’t make it to the performance?” Danny should have known it wouldn’t take much convincing. He’d had his daughter’s attention at ice cream, but when he mentioned putting on a bit of her performance for the SEAL she bounced up and down in her seat with excitement. “Yes, yes! You think he’d like it, Danno? He told me that when he was my age his school had done something just like it, do you think he remembers any of his old dance?”

“I don’t know, Monkey, I think you’d have to ask him.” The idea of Steve in a grass skirt dancing the Hula was not something that came easily to Danny’s mind, but once it got there it refused to leave, sinking in deep as he tried to rationalize his tough, socially awkward partner with the little boy who’d once had to learn how to Hula for his school’s performance. He wondered if there were any surviving pictures of Steve back then, or if they’d all been lost or destroyed in the decades since. He figured that if all else failed, he could ask Chin if John McGarrett had shown him any, or call up Mary and see if she’d kept some for odd blackmail material. 

As he pulled out of the school drive and onto the main road that would take him to Steve’s house, he cast a glance over at the little girl sitting in his passenger seat. “Hey, Gracie, I have to make a quick stop at the grocery store before we go to Uncle Steve’s. You wanna just stay in the car?” His daughter nodded, fingers flying over the screen of the phone Step-Stan had gotten her for her birthday. Danny suppressed an eye roll and pulled into the parking lot. “I’m locking you in, don’t open the door to anyone.”

“Yes, Danno, I know.” Was the only reply he received as he climbed out of the car and trotted inside. He opted for a twenty-four pack, figuring there’d be extra for the next time Steve invited him over for a game, and when he got back out to the car Grace was still on her phone. “You know, one of these days your fingers are going to fall off if you keep texting away like that. They’re going to get so tired that they’re just going to fall off, and we’ll have to take you to the hospital to get them sewn back on.” 

Grace snorted and rolled her eyes, but put the phone down and turned up the radio. Before too much longer they were pulling up into Steve’s driveway and the front door was swinging open to reveal a grinning Steve wearing board shorts and an old t-shirt. Danny had seen him in similar dress countless times in the last few years, but for whatever reason he felt his heart skip a beat, especially when he watched his daughter spring from the car and run up to the other man with a cry of “Uncle Steve!” Steve met her half way, sweeping her up into a bear hug and spinning her around before putting her back on the ground again. Grace was out of breath from giggling, headdress askew and flower falling out of her hair, but the grin on her face was one Danny only saw her give Steve. 

Deep green eyes met his through the windshield. “You gonna stay in there all day, Danno? Or you gonna come in and join us? Burgers are on the grill and ready when the two of you are hungry.” Steve’s grin showed each of his white teeth and Danny had to force himself to breathe, rolling his eyes and grabbing the case of beer before climbing out to join his two favorite people. “You know, I’m a lot less likely to accidentally be set on fire inside my car than I am being anywhere near you and an open flame,” he quipped. Steve just gave him that grin that always promised trouble in Danny’s near future. “That would be true, unless I hid three grenades and a block of C-4 in your trunk.”

With that Steve turned and headed back into the house, Gracie giggling and following behind him. “Please tell me you’re joking. Steve?” Danny received no reply. “Steven? I swear to God you better be joking!” He caught a glimpse of Steve’s grinning face before the brunet disappeared from view again, leaving Danny standing halfway between the camaro and the front door. Sighing, he headed up to the house and closed the door behind him. “Seriously, Steven, if you blow up my car I’ll make you ride on the back of Chin’s motorcycle for the rest of our partnership.”

His grumbles fell on empty air and the echo of his daughter’s laughter, which he followed out onto the lanai. Gracie was sitting in one of the deck chairs, feet swinging as Steve manned the grill, flipping burgers and asking her about how the performance went as if it were the most normal thing in the world. Danny smiled and stepped out to join them, setting the case of beers on a nearby table and accepting a cold one Steve had ready. 

“You want one burger or two, Gracie?” Steve called over his shoulder, turning off the grill and flipping the patties over onto a plate with more finesse than what might have been strictly necessary. “Two please, Uncle Steve!” The little girl replied, accepting the plate offered to her and immediately digging into the perfectly cooked burger. Danny accepted his own plate with a smile before settling himself down in one of the spare chairs. He took a few bites of his own food, switching between watching his daughter devour hers as if she were starving, and watching Steve watch his daughter devouring her food. Grinning smugly, Danny waited for the perfect moment before speaking up. 

“So monkey, what do you say after we eat you show Uncle Steve some of what you’d learned for the performance?” 

Cheeks bulging like a chipmunk’s and a spot of mustard on her chin, Gracie glared at him, chewing quickly and swallowing before answering. “Okay Danno,” she replied before going in for a bite of her second burger. Danny was still working on his first, and he marveled every time they ate together at how she could eat like a teenage boy yet stay so tiny. It certainly didn’t come from his genetics. 

Steve looked up wide-eyed. “Oh Gracie, you don’t have to do that if you don’t want to. You’re probably tired, and I’m sure Danno recorded the whole thing. I can just get him to show me later.” Gracie shook her head and offered the tall brunet a ketchupy grin. “No, Uncle Steve, I wanna show you! I already have to perform it for mom when she gets back from England. And besides, Danno is terrible at recording videos, he probably just recorded the back of some dad’s head the entire time.” 

Danny gave an indignant squawk. “I will have you know my camera skills are great, thank you. Who do you think was in charge of recording all the home movies of you growing up?”

“Is that why Rachel always looks a bit like Steve Bucceemi in those?” Steve spoke up, drawing the brunt of Danny’s ire and returning it with a shit-eating grin and another bite of burger. “Gracie, if you’re sure you’re not too tired then I would love to see some of what you learned,” the ex-SEAL said after finishing the last of his burger in under two bites. Gracie grinned and finished her own before setting the plate down and hopping to her feet. "Great! We learned the one called _ Ka hana o ko ke ao nei. _ It’s all about how the old gods decided how they were going to make the world. It was super cool because before we learned it my teacher showed us a video of some other class years ago performing it with a group of elders. It looked super hard, but once we got started it was _ super _fun!”

Steve nodded and sat back, an indulgent smile on his face as he watched Gracie dash out into the middle of the yard and get ready, palms flat in front of her and one leg stuck out to the side. Danny could see her mentally counting in her head, and wished to himself he’d thought to find the music they'd used, but then his daughter started the dance and he soon forgot all about it. The dance was slow, but with a lot of quick back and forth steps and hand motions that he knew he would never have been coordinated enough to do, and there were a lot of spins and hip movements that had the skirt and Gracie’s hair billowing out around her. He’d been captivated enough watching her on stage with the other kids in her class, but seeing her out in Steve’s backyard with the palm trees and the ocean as her backdrop, Danny could almost imagine the story her motions were painting. 

The dance came to an end to a long moment of silence before it was shattered by slow clapping. Steve stood, eyes looking suspiciously bright in the late daylight as he walked over to Gracie and wrapped her in a tight hug. “That was fantastic, Grace! You looked like a natural!” When Steve let her go, the little girl was pink-faced and grinning broadly. “Thanks, Uncle Steve! My teachers were really impressed at how well the whole class did, but I didn’t want to tell them that Lucy, Becca and me watched Lilo and Stitch on repeat at my mom’s house to get ready for it.”

Steve threw his head back in a loud guffaw before wrapping an arm around Gracie’s shoulders and leading her back up toward the house. “Regardless of how you prepared, you did wonderfully and I appreciate that you agreed to redo your show for me. As a thank you, I have a surprise for you.” 

Gracie squealed as Steve led her towards the kitchen, Danny collecting their plates and empty bottles and following along behind. While the little girl plopped herself down at the kitchen table, Steve pulled the pint of ice cream and a spoon and set them down in front of the wide eye’d ten-year-old. “Thank you, Uncle Steve!” she squealed, digging into the ice cream with glee. Danny shared a smirk with Steve before the taller man headed back out for the lanai to finish cleaning up, leaving the two Williamses in the kitchen. “Make sure not to eat all of it, Monkey. You’re going to get sick.” Gracie just nodded, mouth full of banana flavored cream and sugar. 

Danny watched his daughter eat in silence for a long moment, thoughts swirling around in his head. He knew that it was now or never, but he also didn’t know how Gracie would take the idea. “Hey, Monkey?” he asked, waiting for her to look up at him with a chocolatey grin.”Can I borrow your flower for a minute?” That grin widened. “Are you finally gonna tell Uncle Steve how you feel, Danno?” She asked, voice sounding almost condescending. Danny choked on his spit. “How… what do you mean, Monkey?”

Gracie rolled her eyes, and Danny was immediately reminded of a pint-sized Rachel sitting at his partner’s kitchen table. “Auntie Kono told me. She asked me after the second time if you knew what Uncle Steve was doing. When I told her no, she asked me if I wanted in on the betting pool for how long you two were going to dance around each other before finally admitting to your feelings.” Everything was delivered so practically that Danny needed a moment to process it all. “There was a betting pool?” he asked, rubbing at his chin. The little girl nodded. “Yup! Uncle Chin owes me fifty bucks!”

“Huh…” Danny nodded slowly, casting his gaze out towards the lanai before returning them to the girl who’d resumed eating her ice cream. She was already nearly half way through with the pint, but Danny couldn’t really find it in him to make her stop. “So is that a yes on the flower?” Gracie nodded excitedly and put her spoon down just long enough to detangle the artificial blossom from her hair. “Good luck, Danno!” she called after him as he took it and started back for the backyard. “You’re too smart,” he called back. “Eat your ice cream.” Her giggles followed him through the rest of the house. 

Steve was scrubbing the remains of burger debris from the grill when Danny stepped out onto the porch, fingers playing with the stem of Gracie’s hibiscus. “Hey, Danno!” Steve greeted when he saw Danny standing there. “Grace like her ice cream?”

Danny nodded. “Oh yeah, that was great of you. I mean, I’m sure she’s going to get a stomach ache from downing that entire thing on top of the two burgers, but what the heck, it’s a special occasion and I don’t have it in me to be the bad guy today.” Steve chuckled, hanging up his brush and reaching for his half-finished beer. “Hey, there’s always time to be the bad guy! Besides, I’ve seen that girl eat. I’d genuinely be surprised if she got more than a little stomach ache from that. Remember that shrimp eating contest she got into with Jerry? I was sure the guy was going to need his stomach pumped, and there was Grace without a care in the world!”

Both men shared a laugh at the memory before Danny cleared his throat and took a step closer, near enough to Steve that he could smell the sea salt and gunpowder under the grilled meat that clung to his clothes. “Danno? You okay?” he asked, brow scrunched as forest-green eyes scrutinized the blond’s face. Danny nodded. “Yeah, everything’s fine. Just doing something I probably should have done a long time ago.”

Steve offered him a half-cocked grin, eyes still a little confused. “You’re not going to punch me, are you?”

Danny shook his head, taking a deep breath of _ Steve _ before reaching up and tucking the borrowed flower behind Steve’s left ear. 

The brunet went stiff, brows shooting for his hairline as his eyes widened. Danny wasn’t even sure he was breathing. “Danny, are you sure about this?”

Danny nodded and offered the giant doof a smile. “Yeah, Steve. I’m sure. It just took a little while to catch on.”

Confusion melted into a warm, loving smile as Steve caught Danny’s lingering fingers and entwined them with his own. Danny couldn’t help but return the smile with a sappy one of his own before his free hand was coming up and wrapping around the brunet’s neck, pulling him down until their lips met in a chaste but no less compassionate kiss. When they parted, the smile on Steve’s pink lips was brighter than the sun setting behind them. “Aloha wau iā 'oe, Danno,” the taller man whispered. Danny felt his cheeks warm at the sentiment. “I love you too, Steve.”

~END~

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> I hope you lovely readers enjoyed! Kudos and Comments are always loved!  
-HidingintheInkwell


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